NEWS

 MORE THAN A MATCH

It’s been a tremendous 23/24 Season for the Foundry-sponsored Abbey Youth Flamingos Under-8s Football team, with 17 wins and two draws out of 28 games. And perhaps even more surprising to learn that these stats were gained by being the only girls team in the whole league…

Amelia Begley was just 4 years old when she saw an advert for a free local ‘Tots’ training session at Abbey Youth FC. So one Saturday, dad Dean (better known as Foundry’s very own Senior Practice Manager) took her down to see what it was all about. She was the only girl there. Undeterred, she gave it a go, and with the England Lionesses’ triumph at the 2022 Euros inspiring other girls to join, there was soon enough interest for Abbey to form their own Junior Under-8s Girls Team. The Abbey Youth FC Flamingos were hatched…

 MORE THAN A MATCH
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Amelia, third from right, with the rest of the team in their Foundry-sponsored tops

Cut to Summer 2024, and the Flamingos are flying high: they’ve just completed their first full season as the only girls team playing in the 60-strong boys North & Mid-Herts Rural minors league, as well as being the only girls team of their tournament in this year’s ESF Football Festival at Butlin’s Bognor Regis (complete with Foundry Chambers-sponsored training jumpers, bags and special tournament tops).

Amelia, now 7, says “I loved the big competition because we played against some very hard teams; I liked getting that experience, as well as being away with all the girls… staying up late sometimes, which I’m not sure our coaches were happy about! There was a funfair there as well.”

So how did the Flamingos end up in the boys league in the first place?

“We are glad that Waltham Abbey gave us a chance to play in the team as there aren’t many girls teams around… and we did play in a girls league for the first six months, but there were only five other teams to play against.” says Amelia, “Two of our managers thought we needed more games than we could get in the girls league, so approached the County to see about joining a boys league.”

The gamble paid off; the girls got to play against 14 other teams in the league and gained valuable match-time every single week for 10 months, not to mention the experience of playing against boys. “Physically at that age, they’re not that different”, says Dean, “but it’s the attitude to the game – playing against the boys gave the girls licence to get physical, to lose their reserve and play more aggressively.”

 MORE THAN A MATCH

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Brooking no argument on the pitch

Amelia agrees: “At first I was nervous that the boys would be stronger, but I was also excited, and soon realised I could be strong on the ball, even stronger than the boys – and now everyone puts in hard tackles against each other. The boys were quite surprised at first – they thought they would easily beat us, but we beat them.”

So what’s in store for the 24/25 Season?

Despite three members of the team still being only 7 years old, they’ll now be playing in the Under-9s league. Says Amelia, “We’ve been invited back to Butlins for Spring 25 and I’m looking forward to carrying on beating the boys, scoring goals… we want to move up from Division Three to Division Two. I like being with the girls every Saturday, having fun; I think we’ll all carry on playing forever.”

The Flamingos have also set their sights on a spangly new Away Kit, “which Foundry have very generously agreed to sponsor” says Dean. “This will be the Flamingos last year playing against the boys; the physical differences will start to grow and besides, once they move into the Under-10s there’ll be more girls to play against.” And more chances to shine? “The feedback’s been so overwhelming, we’re hoping a couple of the girls will get spotted by academies at pro clubs… Let’s hope they’re wearing their Foundry away kits when they do!”